SO, have you noticed that lately everybody on TV and radio interview shows have been over-using the word SO? "SO what!", you say? SO, If you make your living talking on stage, words are your business.

SO far as I can tell, “SO” was generally used in the past as a way to clarify an answer, as in “SO, what you are saying is…” Also, it is useful when making a comparison, as in, “He wasn’t home, SO I left him a note”. But in the past 20 years or SO, it has become a very popular way to begin a question or answer, as in this exchange – “SO, tell us about your new project.” “SO, we have made an exciting breakthrough…”.

The SO-called colloquialism, started out mostly in broadcast media, but has now found its way into our everyday speech. SO much SO that you can’t go five minutes without hearing it. SO has replaced “well” and is gaining ground on “uh” (Personally my least favorite) as a way of stalling while trying to put together a thought.

Our language is constantly changing and that can’t be helped. Even SO, should one blindly adopt current phrases, without giving some thought as to how they affect the quality of our communication? I don’t think SO.

And SO, to be the captains of our linguistic ship, SO to speak, we must be better at observing new trends, and deciding whether they are useful, or are merely SO SO. If I may be SO bold, may I suggest you note how many times you hear “SO” in the next few days. If you do SO, you might be surprised how prevalent SO is. And at the very least, you will have become a more conscious consumer of language for a few days. Go, and be the master of your syntactic domain. (You should be SO lucky)